Be Your Own Boss

[Fred_the_frog]

The ones we currently use are really well insulated and work really well even in teh cold outside. We did look at polystyrene but decided that it didn't work as well and felt a bit "tacky". Also, they struggled in our microwave testing!



Well it is currently going through the negotiation stage to finalise figures and percentage. After sitting down with experts we have decided the best way forward for us is to first of all expand and own/be in control of more shops and THEN put a franchise package together. We are thinking to do this quickly we will be looking at around £120k although at this initial stage he has given the go ahead for 50k to open shops 2 and 3.

Yeh I agree the show hasn't been edited that well and we did so much more that they didn't even show such as working with branding guys from sky, barclays and millies cookies and how we went from having a shop nearly agreed to having to restart due to planning regulations. We went on a rocky journey! Also wasn't a fan of how they edited the tasting session...The guy at the start said all other sauces were really nice, yet they decided to show the one he didn't like!

Was a great experience though and a lot of positive progress has been made. Please keep the comments coming!

It must be pretty cool to meet Richard aha. I bet you're a bit gutted that you didn't get to meet Richard Branson though! (Unless you met him off camera )

 

[Adam@twists]

So an investment of £50k for shops 2 and 3, before shop 1 has been proven to work (i.e. test trading)? How is the first shop financed?

Am I right in thinking then that you already had your first shop before appearing on the show? If so, why was it made out to be a new business idea/concept with the requirement of food testing etc. to see if you had a product to market?

We ran a shop called "Fasta Pasta" in Huddersfield for 3 months as a test the market scenario. This is what proved the idea was valid and would work. We financed this using a credit card - risky I know but thats what business is about, taking calculated risks and only spending what you feel you can afford to lose. The first "Twists" has been paid for via a bank loan, it was a long process but the bank liked the concept, us and our business plan. It took roughly 3 months to approve and is around the £25k mark - again, a figure we feel that will not cripple us should we struggle.

The reason we had to do food testing etc is for our new shops which are going to be higher turnover we were looking to a total change is processes. In "Fasta Pasta" all ingredients for the products were bought from a local cash n carry. In the early days we even used to personally drive to it at 7am every morning! As we developed the business we started getting it delivered to the store every 3 days. In the new chain, we decided one of the most effective ways to improve both margins and product quality was to create our own unique sauces. That is what they showed mainly on the show.

Oh, and this worries me... why on earth would you even need a microwave? Hope you not thinking of cutting corners!

The microwave testing is for a customers ease of use. Our shop will not have a microwave, but we like to be happy in the knowledge our customers can purchase our product and take it home to microwave later as a nice quick healthy and fresh dinner! Trust me, our bigger sizes are one hell of a meal and on a plate looks like an awesome meal!

It must be pretty cool to meet Richard aha. I bet you're a bit gutted that you didn't get to meet Richard Branson though! (Unless you met him off camera )

Yeh very gutted we didn't get to meet him! Both myself and Jeff have met him before the show as he did a guest speech at Huddersfield University, we also have meetings with Theo Paphitis every year and this year we happened to have lunch with him the same day the show was aired! All of this contact is great from a idea generation and problem solving angle!

 

[10032012]

Hi Adam

You have a great name now Fasta Pasta was a bit .... to say the least.

It is sad that TV distorts everything out of proportion... i.e. your idea + richards money = a business ... when you already had a business you financed yourself. And frankly you don't even need him - just the money lol

So do you still have shop #1?

I wouldn't fancy the daily C&C run either lol

I wondered whether that was the case... but I would personally stick the contents on a microwavable plate first...

I feel sorry for you that you have to meet Theo once a year... Also a so called Dragon investor... where is his investment?! Or is the double dip recession affecting him also?!

I hope you thinking of spreading your stores a bit? I have considered to pay you guys a visit to taste the pasta... but I cannot really justify the round trip regardless of how good it is. (i.e. any chance of a shop down south-ish?)

 

[Adam@twists]

Thank you very much, Richard (Reed) said he wasn't a massive fan of our branding so we are still looking at it and deciding what the way forward is. Indeed the money will be hugely useful, I am not sure what sort of involvement he will want in the business, this will come in with time as we start to work together more I suppose. One avenue of revenue we want to tap in to in time is retail products, mainly our pasta sauces and other items purely backed off of our brand image.

A plate would be ideal if you were at home, however we were also thinking for our customers that eat at lunch and either do not have plates or simply don't want to use them in their lunch break.

We closed Fasta Pasta after 3 months. That was the amount of time we had to test the market in a shop unit for free! Now its time to get serious, and I have actually got a few ideas to bounce off forum members with regards to the layout etc. I will be doing this in due course!

With Theo it is more part of the university course, we have to present to him and a few hundred college students who may want to consider attending the University. For us it is a great opportunity to practise our public speaking.

The next two places we are looking at is Leeds and Sheffield, although we are also looking at opening a portable unit on campus in Lincoln University. Fingers crossed that soon(ish) we will be able to set up a franchise and have them open everywhere! My family is all down south so would be handy for me to open up and stay at theirs should I need to.

 

[Moneyman]

Nice take on the noodle bar idea. i was looking into the same thing back in the late 70's while i was working in a video shop next to an italian restaurant on the fulham road london. The take away pizza was just starting as an idea.
great margins but hard to keep the quality up.
But went into the city instead.
if you are still chasing funding i might be interested.

 

[Fred_the_frog]

...

Just out of interest, what course did you do at Uni and do you think it was worth it?

(I'd love to be in your shoes right now!)

 

[Adam@twists]

Nice take on the noodle bar idea. i was looking into the same thing back in the late 70's while i was working in a video shop next to an italian restaurant on the fulham road london. The take away pizza was just starting as an idea.
great margins but hard to keep the quality up.
But went into the city instead.
if you are still chasing funding i might be interested.

Thank you mate, we are looking at getting it right to begin with and scaling up by literally not changing anything. Therefore no change in quality...will be a challenging task I'm sure but we are up for it!

Just out of interest, what course did you do at Uni and do you think it was worth it?

(I'd love to be in your shoes right now!)

I am still doing Business Management - year 3. The academic side of things has been incredibly valuable. I've found its been all about sifting through the work and deciding what you can apply to your business and what is maybe not so useful. Personal judgement has carried us to where we are so far, and I strongly believe what I am learning at university will stay with me throughout my business life.

I am lucky - but I also believe you make your own luck.

 

[10032012]

What did everyone think of the latest show?

He picked Ukick, App Developers (?) and Mix Pixie. He un-chose App Developrs and re-chose them. Ukick was between a shuttlecock and a small football. App Developers... well self-explanatory... I know its a tech business but it wasn't quite the invention aspect that the site is designed at. Yet another app... not quite the reinventing the wheel etc/ Mix Pixie is a tragic train crash of a good idea customising CD albums.

Mix Pixie broke my heart... how could this have died?

Its a team of people who have worked in the music industry but doesn't know anything about it. At first I didn't understand why they were meeting Joe and not some record label boss. It seems they were approaching this from the wrong angle... meeting individual stars to sign them up and not strike a deal with the label!

Personalised CD's where you can add your own photos etc. would have been mainstream 5-6 years ago. It has nothing to do with digital sales over CDs, but timing. No nothing to do with recession either. A very good idea much too late.

The problem with Mix Pixie is narrow-minded leadership. Firstly, record contracts give the label rights to the name, image, likeness etc. of the artist... being in the industry I thought they would have known that. So they didn't even need each artists individual consent. Under UK law its possible that they didn't require it anyway - although its a very rocky ground when it comes to making money from it and of course, the budgets of the major labels.

Secondly, I don't know anyone who does anything close of how to push your business on without being the sole outlet (i.e. your website). Oh wait, I do... these websites do flowers, gifts, t-shirts etc. Yes I am talking about the likes of Moonpig etc. It would be a nice bolt on and I am sure they would promote this new addition on TV!! You could get loads of sales from them... so a partnership arrangement where they get commission to make orders for you under their own website but with your branding featured.

Of course, moonpig etc. and even the record labels could steal your idea, but either way its more of a lifestyle business than a profitable one. Perhaps the publicity will relaunch the business. I would have personally got at least one major label on side and with that got some investment to place a few TV adverts (even on cheap channels like Dave etc)

The creating your own mixtape suggestion isn't new. Someone went on Dragons Den a while back where you could make your own CDs and even automatically mix between tracks. I cant remember what its called.

 

[Dave.F]

Did I hear MixPixie say that 70% of album sales are still on CD?

 

[10032012]

Did I hear MixPixie say that 70% of album sales are still on CD?

Yeah. He just took it as fact. Its a too rounded figure... I would want an actual figure that is up to date. "7 in 10" would be fine to mean 66.8% etc but I would rather hear 67% than 70% unless it happens to really be precisely 70% (ignoring any decimal place)

I am sure unlike music singles, that there is still a big market for CD albums... just they are purchased online and not in music stores... if you remember them?

 

[JamieM]

Yeah. He just took it as fact. Its a too rounded figure... I would want an actual figure that is up to date. "7 in 10" would be fine to mean 66.8% etc but I would rather hear 67% than 70% unless it happens to really be precisely 70% (ignoring any decimal place)

I am sure unlike music singles, that there is still a big market for CD albums... just they are purchased online and not in music stores... if you remember them?

It is about right for 2011 figures. Album downloads were 26.6 million against 86.2 million CD's, but downloads are increasing and CD sales reducing.

You do of course need to consider the collector part of it and consider the people who are interested in the artwork. CD will be around for a very long time. Even vinyl sales are growing at the moment.

 

[10032012]

I prefer a CD - then convert to mp3, wma etc.

Digital music is still relatively expensive and of course, you are liable to the data transfer costs (be it fixed or variable). Then there is that hard copy backup... burning it to CD or a regular backup of a big collection of music files... too much hassle. Having a CD on the other hand is much more flexible and practical.

 

[garyk]

Its a team of people who have worked in the music industry but doesn't know anything about it. At first I didn't understand why they were meeting Joe and not some record label boss. It seems they were approaching this from the wrong angle... meeting individual stars to sign them up and not strike a deal with the label!

Agreed.

The creating your own mixtape suggestion isn't new. Someone went on Dragons Den a while back where you could make your own CDs and even automatically mix between tracks. I cant remember what its called.

That was slightly different, the guy had developed a 'beatmatching' algorithm so you could point a playlist at it and it would be like a virtual DJ so not quite the same (a bit of googling turned up mixalbum.com). As you mentioned with MP its primarily about 'gifting'.

Gary

 

[10032012]

I knew it was about mixing tracks online automatically but I thought it was possible to compile an album without mixing them?

Well... its now FitMixPro... I understand focusing on a niche but I think it was better to market this to club goers etc. I have to be critical of Deborah... as if she was this marketing genius that she claims, it would have become a huge brand within a year. Its rare for someone to own IP rights for a website (other than mere copyright of a few modification to stock software)... and it was absolutely fantastic.

It really makes me wonder... the old site now redirects to FitMixPro landing page... a big nothing-special logo, a hyperlink thats does nothing for SEO and a few paragraph disclaimer. I was very interested in how far they have come... but I didn't click the link... I am sure many others wont. I think considering the technology is there, FitMixPro should have been an additional brand alongside mixalbum... even if you focused more on the new brand. Crazy!!

 

[garyk]

Could agree more 1003. Always makes me smile on DD when Deborah is introduced as either 'marketing expert' or 'leisure industry expert' guess it sounds better than 'inherited parents successful business'.

As regards the mixing software it wasnt really unique, the online element is but there are a stack of tools you can download that do the same thing. Plus it was time limited you can get ios apps that do beatmatching of your itunes
Iibrary.

Gary

 

[Dave.F]

I did laugh in the 2nd Episode when they introduced Branson as Reed's 'pal' then after they both interviewed the chap with the lifeguard rescue aid device Branson asked Reed if he was married:|

I would like to hope that my 'pal's' know if I am married or not

 

[Jacob F]

I did laugh in the 2nd Episode when they introduced Branson as Reed's 'pal' then after they both interviewed the chap with the lifeguard rescue aid device Branson asked Reed if he was married:|

I would like to hope that my 'pal's' know if I am married or not

You're more on the ball than I am but looking back that is pretty amusing. Just a good opportunity for Branson to get some media time (never miss a trick), clearly doesn't know Reed from Adam.

 

[Dave.F]

You're more on the ball than I am but looking back that is pretty amusing. Just a good opportunity for Branson to get some media time (never miss a trick), clearly doesn't know Reed from Adam.

Yes and did you also notice that he mentioned Virgin trains and Virgin airlines while chatting with the lifeguard gizmo chap!

 

[10032012]

I think you missed the pattern though, that every second episode has "the other Richard" in it. There is only 6 episodes so I am guessing that Branson might appear in the final one?

Surely choose someone else each time? No?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcthree/2012/03/be-your-own-boss.shtml

So what did people think of the last episode? For me it was probably one of the worst, although the baby milk mixer thingy was a rather clever invention. (Did they ever test it with actual contents?)

 

[Dave.F]

I was interested in the baby bottle also I don't think they tested it:|

Did he spend the 3k on drawings because he did not seem to progress from the 1st model he had at the beginning:|

Did he have a patent and was it UK only and still pending??

 

[10032012]

has it been scrapped? its not on tonight?

 

[Fred_the_frog]

has it been scrapped? its not on tonight?

It shows on the TV listings on BB3 at 7pm?

I forgot about it tonight. I haven't even watched last weeks yet :redface:

 

[10032012]

It shows on the TV listings on BB3 at 7pm?

I forgot about it tonight. I haven't even watched last weeks yet :redface:

Hilarious! I just checked and you are right... they moved it forward to 7 pm (repeated at 1 am)

I assume despite his "mate" being in every 2 episodes... the rating figures are below the floor... so they pulled the prime-time slot for the show and replaced it with another movie repeat. please note its not no ITV or BBC1... its BBC Three, a part time channel, with not too great audience anyway.

 

[10032012]

Oh and I cant view it on iPlayer until after the 1am repeat! What is the point?!

 

[Fred_the_frog]

What time is it normally on?

 

[10032012]

What time is it normally on?

Had a 9 pm slot.

 

[garyk]

please note its not no ITV or BBC1... its BBC Three, a part time channel, with not too great audience anyway.

I *love* BBC3, not for dont tell the bride or shite of that ilk but for all the music documentaries they have had covering bands and record labels.

Gay

 

[Fred_the_frog]

I *love* BBC3, not for dont tell the bride or shite of that ilk but for all the music documentaries they have had covering bands and record labels.

Gay

That's an unfortunate misspelling of your name.

 

[jane p]

i missed it saw abit on i player who did he back?

 

[jane p]

anyone know.

 

[garyk]

That's an unfortunate misspelling of your name.

Thanks for spotting that!!!

 

[jane p]

can someone tell me who he choose?

 

[Jet Virtual]

This show is trying too hard and just doesn't compare to shows like 'the apprentice' and 'dragons den' ... Sorry mr smoothie

 

[Fred_the_frog]

This show is trying too hard and just doesn't compare to shows like 'the apprentice' and 'dragons den' ... Sorry mr smoothie

I guess he was thinking 'Ok, so i've made my millions. Now I need to get famous. I'll create my own fame using my money!'

 

[10032012]

Took me ages, it was so forgettable... had to wait for BBC Three to update their website to get the names.

AG Papertoys - some youngster very good paper-folding, talented but a little stupid, wanted to sell greeting cards, found it hard to get it stocked. DIDN'T HAVE THE INITIATIVE TO FIND OUT CONTACT NAMES AT POTENTIAL STOCKISTS AND POST THEM HIS CARD. SMOOTHIE MAN ALSO COULDN'T ADVISE HIM TO DO THIS ALSO.

CarGo seat - a briefcase come child seat. Good idea but will never take off, safety and practical issues.

Cyclr - social networking website for cyclists. Smoothie man invested some money for them to build a working prototype. They come back with a whole new rebrand (before they were bicycle base camp)... but no working prototype of their website. THEY WERE SURPRISED WHEN THEY DIDN'T RECEIVE FURTHER INVESTMENT?!?. Why would anyone invest (even at the early stages) in someone wanting to do a website but having actually no website? Crazy! Going on cyclr.com goes to their old domain name bicyclebasecamp.com, before redirecting to a holding page on cyclr.me which mentions thecyclr.com - still no website.

 

[hitari]

This show is trying too hard and just doesn't compare to shows like 'the apprentice' and 'dragons den' ... Sorry mr smoothie

I agree - I had higher expectations for the programme but quite diappointing really!

 

[aakash]

Also, that mango bikes thing- we heard that the website was not working but we didn't find out how it ended up. It'd have been nice to see how they dealt with not being able to take payments on the first day.

 

[Dave.F]

Just watched it.....what a waste of 1 hour

Episode 5 was by far the worst and I thought it could not get any worse.

Cyclr = Jokers
Paperboy = Nice but dim
Cargo = Dreamer

Lets hope that the two Richard's find a million dollar product in the last episode or I am going to write to the BBC and ask for a refund on my license fee and 6 hours of my life back

 

[garyk]

Agreed, that was the weakest show, theres normally one strong one but this week they were all poor, the best of a bad lot.

 

[10032012]

Lets be real here. No one knows who this person is. Mention the word "Innocent" then people realise that brand and associate him with being ok. The shows is full of young people who seem to have been recruited from local schools, colleges and universities, some with stupid ideas to make up numbers and fill up the show.

The rest (including some young entrepreneurs) seemed to have been scouted by the BBC - the majority of chosen acts (sorry entrepreneurs) are these people.

I seriously doubt there will be a second series. This was an attempt to create a public image for him... I assumed he was turned down for Dragons Den. For these shows to work I think there needs to be substance and at least a half-baked attempt to achieve the aim the shows is intended to do - regardless of it being entertainment. The show consists of 6 episodes and no follow up elements which viewers are wanting to know.

I don't think they were paying for the entrepreneurs travel and I have an impression that he might not have gone ahead with the final investments.

BBC One + Some big name + marketing = real entrepreneurs coming forward, likely a good show
BBC Three + someone no one has heard of + limited PR = fail, find people to make up the numbers - I don't recall anyone on here having a press release for the show, for example.

I wonder if they burnt almost the whole production budget on buying Branson's time?

Some noticeable keywords:- "hu-u-u-u-u-nt", "mate", "hip" ...